Friday, December 14, 2018

Most Disappointing Books of 2018

It's that time of year! I usually save my end of year posts for a bit later in December, but since I don't plan (🤞) to read any more disappointing books before the end of the year, I figured I might as well go ahead and share my most disappointing reads of the year. While putting together this post, I was pleasantly surprised to see how few books I rated low. I'm not sure if I'm just an easy rater, easy to please, or I'm just generally pretty good at picking books I like, but regardless of why I'm glad I didn't have too many disliked books to add to this list.

As a general disclaimer, my opinions are mine alone and I am in no way judging you if you loved one of the books on this list. I don't even necessarily hate or dislike a lot of these books, it's just that I had higher expectation for them and they ended up really falling flat for me. Also, these are in no particular order. So, let's dive in!

Unbury Carol by Josh Malerman
I loved one of Malerman's other books, Bird Box, so when I heard this was coming out I was really intrigued by the premise, but sadly it did not work for me. The plot itself was incredibly forced and could have been resolved much quicker than it was--in fact, I think I might've liked this more if it were a novella. Even then, there was just something missing from this book, which is a shame since it had such great potential.. (Review)

Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository

LIFEL1K3 by Jay Kristoff
Man, it's almost painful to include this one. I was beyond excited to read this book. I love the Nevernight series and I love The Illuminae Files so I thought this would be awesome. Unfortunately, it ended up being a chore to get through. Most of the characters were not developed well for me, the action was a bit too nonstop with not enough character development or time to develop the plot, and it was hard to keep up with the random slang and world-building. Kristoff's trademark sass and imagination was there, but that's about it. I'm not even sure if I want to continue with this series, but I will probably see what reviews are like and decide next year. (Review)

Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository


Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

Foundryside is not a bad book by any means, so this one was definitely just my own problem with the book. Foundryside is actually one of the most popular books of fantasy this year it seems, and I completely understand why. It's inventive, fast-paced, exciting.... and it just didn't click with me. There was too much info-dumping, too much repetition, and the characters were not interesting. This book was also a couple hundred pages too long--cut out a couple of the endless cat-and-mouse chase scenes, and maybe things would've been a little bit better. Maybe. (Review)

Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository


Suicide ClubSuicide Club by Rachel Heng
This is another one that I really wanted to love. This had such a cool premise! A world where certain people have the potential to live forever if they do things right, some major dystopian elements at play, etc.... and it was executed so poorly. I hardly know where the plot was and the characters were so lackluster. I was more interested in the characters we didn't get to see as much. This whole thing was a disappointment. (Review)



Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository


Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young
I love Viking books, so this was high on my anticipated lists. Unfortunately, pretty much nothing happens in this book, including a lack of character development, plot, and my interest. It was predictable, the pacing was really inconsistent, and I kind of hated the protagonist. So many people seemed to have loved this one and I wish I was one of them, but I guess I'm not. (Review)


Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository

The Merry Spinster by Mallory Ortberg
Another one with potential that fell flat. This was a collection of short fairy tale reimaginings that seemed like they would be on the darker, feminist side. I really liked one or two of these (the one that was a Little Mermaid retelling was my favorite!) I liked what Ortberg was trying to do, which was subvert a lot of gender roles and include some trans, gender neutral, etc. figures into these stories. My problem was that it just wasn't executed all that well and ended up actually being a bit confusing to read, and some stories just missed the mark entirely for me. That being said, I appreciate that Ortberg, who has since transitioned from Mallory to Daniel, was able to incorporate some diverse elements from personal experiences. I just wish I enjoyed these stories more.

Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository


Red Clocks by Leni Zumas
Most of my disappointments have been books that had potential and failed to execute it, and Red Clocks is no exception. It feels like so many books have this really neat idea, but then the author decides to focus on some really random, uninteresting character plot line that I don't care about. I want to see more about the world, how things happened, etc. It has a very 'literary' prose style which I normally enjoy, but in this case it felt like it was trying too hard and I just couldn't get into it. It seems like another one that was really popular with most people, so I guess it's just me. (Review)


Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository


The Darkest Part of the Forest by [Black, Holly]The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black
I love The Cruel Prince, so I decided to finally pick up some of Holly Black's other books, starting with this one... and it was not what I expected. I honestly don't have a lot to say about this book because it was just so mediocre and uninteresting to me. The characters had that very 'generic stereotypical YA' feel and the story was a bit unbelievable at times. I'm still looking forward to The Wicked King, though!


Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository

Beast Within, The: A Tale of Beauty's Prince (Villains Book 2) by [Valentino, Serena]The Beast Within by Serena Valentino
This was a Beauty and the Beast-inspired story told from the Beast's point of view, part of a Disney Villains series that Serena Valentino is writing. I read Fairest of All, about the Wickd Queen from Snow White, and found it pretty decent, nothing spectacular but certainly enjoyable, so I looked forward to this one. I have no idea what happened, but honestly, this was really bad. The characters were almost pointless they were so flat and everything dragged on too long before the real meat of the story ever appeared in the last few chapters. I'm might check out one more book in this Villains series because I enjoy these types of stories, but I'll probably be pretty hesitant about it if I do choose to.

Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository

Have you read any of these books? What were some of your biggest book disappointments this year?


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6 comments:

  1. I haven't read any of these, although I did DNF The Cruel Prince!

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    1. Oh interesting! I've seen people having some very mixed opinions about that one.

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  2. I loved Foundryside, but hey, not all books work for all readers. I was warned off reading LIFEL1K3 by lots of negative reviews, so it doesn't surprise me to see it on here.

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    1. That's awesome, I honestly wish I did too, haha. I loved how the magic system worked, though. And yeah, I'd have to say I agree with the warnings on that one.

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  3. I TOTALLY agree about Unbury Carol by Josh Malerman! It was so long and drawn out that it bored me. If it was a novella, the author could have cut out a lot of the slow bits speed the story up more.

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    1. I'm so glad to see I'm not alone! It was such a dry novel, I couldn't even figure out what the point was half the time.

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